Gifted & Talented and Supported Learning

Our Gifted and Talented Program as well as our Learning Support Team aims to provide support for children, their teachers and parents, in striving to achieve their best in all areas of development .

Blue Sky Program

Leanne Eisman (Masters in Education - Gifted and Talented) (UNSW) coordinates the curriculum for The Gifted and Talented program which we refer to as - Blue Sky Program - from Years K-6.

For students who demonstrate ‘twice exceptional’ ability, talents or overall ‘giftedness’ this environment nurtures their natural ability and enhances their learning. Our Blue Sky program aims to identify and educate students who demonstrate:

Facility for abstraction and advanced reasoning

Vivid imagination

Complex thought processes

Preference for high order independent work

Well-developed memory

Creativity

Divergent thinking

Passion for learning

Superiority across a range of cognitive tasks

Rapid learning rates

Excellent powers of concentration

Learning Support Services

Mount Sinai's Learning Support team aims to provide support for children, their teachers and parents, in striving to achieve their best in all areas of development – emotional, social and academic.

Understanding children in light of their needs and requirements, strengths and weaknesses, interests, dreams and ambitions provides the elements of a successful intervention that is supportive in terms of developing a sound knowledge of fundamental English and mathematics skills as well as broadening horizons for the future. Most importantly, we ask parents of children with needs not to live exclusively in the 'fix-it' world but to simultaneously recognise and develop their child's strengths.

The Learning Support Team offers:

Reading Interventions (Minilit and Multilit programs)

Specialised spelling program

Academic support

Counselling and psychological support

Speech therapy and occupational therapy

Many social skills intervention programs that fall under the Kids Matter framework

The Feuerstein Program

The Feuerstein Program at Mount Sinai College is focused on helping learners to process information more effectively. The various "instruments" used require students to use particular cognitive functions, allowing them to develop thinking techniques that not only enhance information processing skills but enable them to function as independent learners. The program focuses on how children learn, rather than what they learn.

The Program currently caters to students with:

Cognitive challenges

Expressive and receptive language difficulties

Impulsivity (ADHD)

Led by accredited Feuerstein Mediator Helen Meyer, outcomes lead to changes in learning ability and positive behaviours including:

Enhanced concentration and decision-making skills

Increased confidence in the ability to achieve potential

Improved problem solving skills and flexible thinking in the classroom

Improved ability to plan and organise which significantly impacts learning outcomes across a wide range of subject areas.